Former officer's sentence in DUI crash angers victims' families

November 17, 2012|By Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune reporter

Maria Velez, left, mother of Fausto Manzera, describes her disappointment in the sentencing of Joseph Frugoli, the Chicago police officer who killed her son and Andrew Cazares. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune)

Maria Velez shook uncontrollably and struggled for the right words to express her anger after a former Chicago police detective was sentenced Friday night to eight years in prison for killing her only son and his friend in a 2009 drunken driving crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

"Eight years for the lives of two young boys?" said a sobbing Velez, who felt that Joseph Frugoli got an unfair break because he was a police detective. "It's like a slap in the face, like we don't even matter."

Velez's son, Fausto Manzera, 21, and Andrew Cazares, 23, died in the fiery wreck. Frugoli, whose blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit, was arrested after attempting to flee the scene on foot after a good Samaritan had helped him from his SUV. His lawyers said he was disoriented after the crash.

With the option to sentence Frugoli to anything from probation to 31 years in prison, Cook County Judge Charles Burns acknowledged struggling with deciding on a fair sentence. He said he gave significant weight to the 18-year veteran's decorated career on the police force but that probation wasn't appropriate given that Frugoli was so drunk and tried to flee the scene.

Burns ordered Frugoli taken into custody immediately after he imposed the sentence. His lawyers asked that he be placed in protective custody in Cook County Jail.

Frugoli's sentence would appear to be within the range of similar cases involving former Chicago police officers charged in fatal DUIs in recent years.

In March, Richard Bolling was sentenced to three years in prison for reckless homicide in the hit-and-run death of a 13-year-old boy riding a bike. Jason Casper was ultimately given 10 years in prison for reckless homicide for the 2005 deaths of two high school students. And charges were dropped against John Ardelean for the 2007 reckless homicide deaths of two men in their 20s after a Cook County judge threw out critical evidence.

In tearful testimony Friday by family members, Manzera was described as a passionate young man who loved music and sports and was living his dream of attending DePaul University. He was looking forward to graduating in 2010 and continuing his studies overseas, his mother said.

Cazares' mother, Lorena Buenbostro, wept as she talked about her son's grace and joy of life. He was growing up to be an "incredible young man" who wanted to go to culinary school and own his own restaurant someday, she said.

"There are times when I would give anything just to be able to look into his eyes or hold him in my arms for just a few minutes," Buenbostro said. "The last goodbye I had was to a coffin."

Before the judge announced the sentence, Frugoli stood and apologized to the families for the pain he caused. He said it haunted him even more because of the many times as a detective he had to notify family members about the deaths of loved ones.

"I never in my life thought that I would become the cause of that pain," said Frugoli, his voice quivering as he read from a sheet of paper.

Frugoli had been stripped of police powers after the wreck and resigned from the department shortly before he pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI. He contested the charges that he fled the scene, but Burns convicted him of that as well.

During the three-hour sentencing hearing Friday, prosecutors highlighted two previous crashes caused by Frugoli in which he appeared to receive preferential treatment.

In 2005, he rear-ended a vehicle late at night on the same South Side expressway. A state trooper testified Friday he smelled alcohol on Frugoli's breath, but the detective was never tested at the hospital and the tickets he issued were later dropped. In January 2008, Frugoli slammed into a Chicago police squad car at 5 a.m. just blocks from his Bridgeport home, seriously injuring a patrol officer, according to testimony Friday.

Officer William Orsa testified Friday that Frugoli's eyes were glassy and he appeared "dumbfounded" at the scene. But Frugoli was ticketed only for running a stop sign, and prosecutors dropped it at the first court date, records show.